Overcrowding emergency: About 175 inmates to be freed from Genesee County Jail

Two Genesee County jail inmates watch traffic outside the facility in this Flint Journal file photo.

GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- The county has declared a jail overcrowding emergency for the first time since 2007, a move that will trigger the release of about 175 inmates in the next two weeks.

"The jail is simply too small for this community," Sheriff Robert Pickell said today. "Sometimes, no matter what you do, you just can't pull off a miracle.

"We're officially in a jail overcrowding crisis," Pickell said. "A lot of people are going to be released from jail."

Judges and the sheriff narrowly averted an overcrowding emergency just last month but the facility has been chronically overcrowded almost since it opened in 1989.

Pickell also declared an overcrowding emergency in 2007, forcing the release of about 150 inmates and prompting the formation of the jail overcrowding task force that never issued a report or made recommendations.

The sheriff said he notified Chief Genesee Circuit Judge Richard Yuille of the overcrowding emergency Monday. He said his office will work with Yuille to identify inmates with relatively low bonds or who have served the majority of their sentences and are candidates for early release.

The state's jail overcrowding law requires the sheriff to formally notify local judges when the population of the jail has been over its capacity of 580 inmates for seven consecutive days.

The inmate population has been at about 700 during the past seven day, Pickell said.